The Turkish vice consul to Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region was among at least two people shot dead Wednesday in the regional capital Arbil, police sources said.

A police source told AFP that the Turkish vice consul was killed "in an armed attack targeting the consul and the consulate's employees in a restaurant in Arbil," adding that the attacker fled the scene.

Former Israeli premier Ehud Barak, who is challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in upcoming elections, vowed to fight back Wednesday after criticism over his ties to disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein.

A blast killed four soldiers in southern Syria Wednesday in a rare such deadly attack in the defeated cradle of the eight-year uprising, a war monitor said.

Kuwaiti authorities have arrested more than a dozen people, including a leading rights activist, in a crackdown on protesters demanding greater rights for stateless Arabs, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

They face a number of charges including participation in unlicensed demonstrations, spreading false news and state security offences, the London-based rights group said.

As Benjamin Netanyahu becomes Israel's longest-serving prime minister, he is solidifying his place as the country's greatest political survivor and the most dominant force in Israeli politics in his generation.

He has persevered through scandals, crises and conflicts, winning election after election even as the country grows more bitterly polarized. His supporters credit him with keeping Israel safe and prosperous, maintaining its Jewish character and boosting its standing internationally.

Key powers including backers of a rebel leader called Tuesday for a halt to fighting in Libya, warning that bloodshed was aggravating a crisis on multiple fronts.

Palestinian officials urged diplomats Tuesday to take action to prevent Israel from carrying out a demolition order against Palestinian homes in the Jerusalem area as a deadline related to it approached.

A small oil tanker from the United Arab Emirates traveling through the Strait of Hormuz entered Iranian waters and turned off its tracker two days ago, leading the U.S. to suspect Iran seized the vessel amid heightened tensions in the region, an American defense official said Tuesday.

Iran offered no immediate comment on what happened to the Panamanian-flagged oil tanker Riah late Saturday night, though an Emirati official acknowledged the vessel sent out no distress call. Oil tankers previously have been targeted in the wider region amid tensions between the U.S. and Iran over its unraveling nuclear deal with world powers.

An Israeli NGO said Tuesday it was petitioning Gibraltar's top court to sell an impounded Iranian oil tanker to compensate parents of a child allegedly killed by Iran-funded Hamas.

Regime airstrikes on Tuesday killed nine civilians in rebel-held northwest Syria, the target of months of regime and Russian bombardment, a war monitor said.